Kids

I walked out of the back room today to find a group of kids huddled around the body jewelry display case. Because customer service doesn't discriminate, I approached them and asked if I could help them with anything. One of the girls mumbled something about not needing my help, so I started to walk away.

"What the fuck did she just say to me?" I heard someone say behind me.

I turned to see a boy, not more than 4 feet tall, wearing pants that were obviously bought too short as they only came up to right underneath his butt, glaring at me.

"Sorry?" I asked him.

"I said, what the fuck did you just say to me?"

"I asked if you needed help with anything."

He glared at me.

It was then I decided perhaps I should remain at the front counter in case he did in fact need my assistance. It was obvious he was hard of hearing or possibly confused about being out in public and how visiting a retail store may cause the workers in the store to offer him assistance with his purchasing experience. Clearly this frightened or intimidated him in some way and maybe my presence could offer some sort of calming effect.

After another five minutes of glaring he nodded his head in that way that guys nod their head when they are trying to motion towards something because men apparently sometimes forget how to use their arms and hands to actually point at what they are referring to.

Head nod, "That one."

Me, "Sorry?"

Head nod, "That one."

Me, "That one what?"

Head nod, "I want THAT one."

Me, "You want WHICH one?"

He takes his hand out from underneath his shirt, actually he had both his arms inside his shirt, the arm holes were apparently too uncomfortable to use that day so when he reached up to point to the piece of jewelry he wanted to purchase his entire shirt ended up around his neck. His pants were still barely hanging on, resting right below his ass and exposing his grey boxers and (now that the shirt was around his neck) his entire midsection. At this point I could have asked him to leave as he was clearly violating the No Shirt part of the public dress code.

"I want this one," he says, tapping on the case with such force that I thought the entire thing, which is bolted to the counter, was going to come crashing down. Maybe it was because he was only 4ft tall and could barely see above the counter that he felt the need to be so angry about it.

That would have probably made me angry as well. I should have offered him a comment card so he could complain about how our store is not designed well for the vertically challenged.

I took the jewelry out of the case and set it onto the counter. Another member of the entourage paid and then handed the piece of jewelry to the young man that was still glaring at me.

"Have a nice day guys." I said with my customer service smile.

As they were walking out the door the girl I had initially approached said very loudly,

"I don't think they like black people in their store."

This incensed the short one as he then began to jump around outside the door and windows yelling at the top of his lungs,

"What?! What?! You scared of black people? You don't like black people. What?" and on, and on, and on.

I am not sure if he was really asking me those questions or if he just had some sort of condition that caused him to ask questions really rudely and in a confrontational manner all the time.

So allow me to answer that question now.

I have no problem with black people. I just don't like kids. In any color. Especially rude, unsupervised, miscreant, loud ones. I hate children. I hate when they come into my store and steal or make a mess or loiter.

Why did he have to make it a race issue? It's because I'm white isn't it?